How To Afford a Renovation: Phasing a Project, Part 1

Everyone knows that construction prices are very high right now, and they're not really going anywhere [see: chronic, decades long labor shortage in the skilled trades; increasing regulation; aging infrastructure; deferred maintenance...] So what happens when you need to renovate your home or property, but the work you need to do far outstrips your budget?

This question comes up almost daily when I'm talking with clients - both in my capacity as an architect and as a consultant - and everyone asks the same question: "how can I phase my project so that it's cheaper?"

I also recently got a message from a reader asking this exact question, and thought I'd follow his suggestion and do a whole article on it. Really, this could be several articles - there are so many things to consider! Here, we'll focus on an extensive home renovation...we'll save extensive capital improvements on investment properties or businesses for a future post.

Let's use this reader's situation as our example. He writes that his elderly family member's house "is perfectly livable, but could use both cosmetic and infrastructural upgrades - they did one kitchen renovation 15 years ago and studiously maintained paint/cleanliness/etc, but have otherwise left the circa-1900 house untouched." He also explains that they've been living in the house for 50+ years, and that to renovate the whole thing [a 3500 sf house in the Bay Area] would be around $3mm in costs.

A house undergoing one of our most extensive renovations, including lifting it to give it a taller basement! Houses in tough jurisdictions [like this one] are often worth doing big renovations on, because it’s so hard to build anything new.

He then goes on to posit that they could do the basement, "including modernizing plumbing and electric," in 2025, then the first floor in 2030, then the second in 203x, etc.

He's asking specifically if that would be frustrating for an architect to think about a project in this way...and here's my answer:

Not at all - I'm happy to think about phased projects and help clients master plan their renovations. BUT - doing a project in this way would be very unpleasant, expensive, disruptive, and, well, frustrating for the *owner.*

Let's talk about why.

First of all, my ears perk up when I hear "untouched in 50 years" - don't get me wrong, paint and regular maintenance is *huge* and very important, but just about everything else will be at the end of its useful life. Modern HVAC systems have a 20-30 year lifespan, windows/roof/siding will almost surely need to be replaced. Electrical could go either way - if it's well maintained, there's nothing really wrong with older wiring, unless it's got old style fuses, is knob-and-tub, has been hacked at over the last 50 years. It will likely be undersized for modern use [think electric HVAC systems, car charger, etc], and will need to be upgraded to at least a 200 amp service. Plumbing is usually ok, though stuff I look for in an old house that can cause problems include old cast iron wastelines [they last for a long time, but they corrode from the inside - just scope it to see the state of it - including out to the street!], galvanized pipe, hacked up DIY stuff, etc. The fixtures will all certainly have to be replaced.

This is to say nothing of other issues like tile, waterproofing [inside and out], state of the wallboard/plaster, various structural things, insulation, lighting, or design and layout of the house, which would likely need to be updated to support modern life [think: more bathrooms, more open living spaces, larger closets, better storage, etc].

Ok, so that's a big list - what's wrong with doing it floor by floor?

Well, let’s dive in…